New Curtains...

 ***Just so you know, there is 2 other posts under this one***

So John has been asking since we moved in if I could do something about the sliding glass door, with vertical blinds. And it just wasn't a task I was ready to under take. The yesterday I was at Walmart and they were having a massive clearance on all sorts of things and I saw these valances for $7. So I picked them up. And put them up and loved the color that it bought the room. And was prepared to leave it at that for now. But when I showed John via webcam, he asked when I was going to take down the blinds and put up curtains in the place of the vertical blinds. So I thought and thought and came up with the idea to hang the curtains from the hooks of the vertical blinds saving me time and $$. Below is what I did. So I went back to Walmart today and bought the panels for $7 each as well.

The before picture (Actually taken half through the removing of the vertical blinds hence the section picture)

So I took of all the vertical blinds...

I bought these hooks at Walmart and decided to alter them. Bought 2 packages for $5 each

to look like this to make them possible to fit in the tab things on the vertical blind track.

I understand that its hard to see in this picture and the next one but between the two I hope that you can see and understand what I did. I fed the loop through the plastic tab and the rectangle thing at the bottom of the brown thing is a clip so I can hook the curtain up to it.

Since the window is 8 feet tall the curtains I bought for $7 were a little short so I took curtains I had bought in Hawaii, took the sewn on valance off and sewed it to the bottom making it long enough.

The curtain in the middle was the one I bought a few years ago in Hawaii and the bottom of the red curtains was sewn on the top of it. I should of take a picture. Sorry.

I am pretty proud of my revamped room all for $30, plus whatever I spent in Hawaii.

The Fun Since John Left

So a few weeks ago we went to a dog park. The kids have never been to one. Isaac loved all the dogs to play, run and jump with. He was excited that some dogs actually play fetch. It was quite funny actually Isaac was playing with everyone elses dog, but not playing with Scrappy.

 

Scrappy just hung out under the wagon the whole time. He was not a big fan of running, or playing. He was tired very early into the trip. And I think he was afraid he was going to be left there.

Noah hated the dog park. He was scared, like screaming his head off scared, of every dog that came by. Since he is so heavy, Rose held him for me. She loved the boys, and helps so much. I am going to be sad when she leaves in this spring for Afganistan too.

Then a few weeks later we went to an aquarium in Santa Barbara with Brad's kids, Paris and Garrett. It was actually pretty cool, kinda small, but not bad in price. You could touch almost everything and there was lots of hands on things.

I touched that in attempts to get the kids to touch it. Funny, Paris was the only one that got even relatively close, but she didn't even get close enough to reach it.

Rose indugling my need for goofy pictures Thanks Rose!!

That is Paris' hand touching that star fish, the boys once again were not having it!

Thanks Brad for being a good sport!! It did take a bit more conviencing for him to pose.

These whales hanging from the ceiling were cool

Model of a dolphin and its insides

The water to pet those things were FREEZING!!

New Preschool

Isaac started a new preschool back in Mid-Jan. This is a speech intensive school that is specifically for kids that fall on the autistic spectrum. Some days he doesn't really want to go, but most days he is begging me to go play at school. These are pictures of his first day, and he got to ride the bus!!

Waiting for the bus...it was pouring rain. And of course the bus was late, and I wasn't sure of the bus stop

He could barely wait for the bus. I don't know if you can tell but he is running to the bus.

It is weird to me that he rides in a car seat. But I am sure it is safer

Swimming up Stream

I know, I know, I know! I have been neglecting my blog alot lately, but to be honest I just feel like I am swimming up stream and barely able to keep my head above water some days. I have amazing family and friends that are helping me get thru, but some days it just hard. I have been trying to cling to the hope of priesthood blessing promised. Drag myself along with knowledge that this too shall pass. But some days its alot. We have had a rough year so far. With John leaving suddenly, Noah and Drs that can't make up there minds. I get use to one diagnosis and they change their minds, and with the struggles of 6 hrs of therapy, preschool, relief society callings, 4 specialist, MRIs, brain scans, and so much more.
Within in 2 weeks I was told that Noah had downbeat nystagmus, which I was told was a symptom of a neurological condition, and to see a neurologist. Then one week later I was told he had ataxic cerebral palsy. And that the neurologist would confirm it. We saw the neurologist a few days later, and she told me that he probably had some rare genetic disease, that they would do this extensive genetic test, in which they drew 4 vials of blood from my baby's arm. And then a few days later she EMAILED me to tell me that she has looked at his MRI from 6 months ago, and she found that he has a pineal cyst on the top of his brainstem. And now they had to do a High Definition MRI specifically looking at that area of the brain. She assured me that this kind of cyst are completely benign, and generally are not a problem, infact many people have them and never even know it. But the problem is when they cause symptoms. And since that is even why they found it, well I am terrified!! She won't say much as to what the next step will be, which is not good for me since I am a planner, I am a doer, and I am a mother!! I have faith that I can handle anything that is thrown my way. But I feel like I can't plan, or do anything for him. And as I am sure that as any mother knows, all you want to do is make everything better!! And if it could get any worse, I have to deal with it without JOHN!! I do have an amazing ward. I called one person to come sit with me the night that I go the email and within an hour 5 people were at me house, cooking, doing the dishes, taking care of the kids, and giving us blessings. My mother and mother in law have offered to come help me through it all. And I have talked with those people in John's command to see if we can get him home for all this. They would like to wait and see what the MRI shows. So we wait...Sometimes when it rains it pours. And I am just looking for the break in the clouds. They are coming soon, I know this. And I am looking ahead for the sunshine.

Busy Busy Bees

Well it has been a busy time for us since I last posted. Our children made out like bandits this Christmas. First Christmas lasted forever. We decided since we were going to be gone for Christmas day that we would do our Christmas, and have Santa come early to our house on Dec 5. (Its nice that the kids are still young enough to do that.)  It was a nice morning. We got up and ate breakfast, as I read and played out the Christmas story for Isaac. He seemed to grasp some of it, but one day will get more of it. Then we watched a cartoon of the birth of Jesus, and talked more to help Isaac understand the reason for Christmas.

Then as we were gearing up, packing and planning our upcoming vacay we were hit with the news that John was leaving for Afganistan sometime upon our return from vacay. It was not what we excepted, but it does come with the job descripton. We left on Dec 13 and headed to John's parents house for the night. We had fairly good weather so that was wonderful. We stayed the night there and then headed to my parents house for the next week. It was great. And we got in just in time since about an hour after we arrived it snowed. We went up cause my sister was getting sealed to her husband and baby in the temple. And we figured if we were going to be up there close to Christmas we might as well do Christmas a week early. The week was nice, I got to spend lots of time with my sisters, and their kids, and hang out with my parents. My grandma and cousin flew in also, it was weird to see them there, only cause they live a few hrs from here. LOL Then the sealing was on Saturday Dec 19th. Exactly one year since they were married. COOL HUNH!! After was had a nice dinner it was great to meet her inlaws and see friends that we shared our teenage years with. Then on Sunday we did Christmas with my family. It was the only time that all of the kids were together with all the spouses, and kids. My mom and dad have a fairly large house until you stick, 15 adults, and 9 kids under the age of 8 all in one house. WOW!! was it loud. But was fun, and a great time had by all.

Grandpa with baby Kaylene after sealing

The Eternally Happy Couple

Newly Joined Family

The baby GIRL I tried to steal a few times

Some of the SIBS

The Sealer and his wife, my moms. Known them since I was 11.

The whole family. The older kids are from his first marriage

My Family

His Family

John grew a bread. This is just a fwe days growth. Isaac hated the feel of it, hence the hand between the faces

And here between the kiss

The Grandkids

I made her a paper doll set with my cricut

Presents everywhere!

Noah's favorite gifts, empty boxes. He put that thing on his head forever.

John's favorite gift. And yes its a rock. (Put in his box to make it heavier to decieve him)

My sister just bought 10 acres out in the middle of Nowhere, and wanted a dinner bell to call the group in with, so my dad made her one.

Then on Monday Dec 21, we left for John's parents again. This was also perfect timing cause the night we arrived they had a freezing rain come through. John's parents house was alot more relaxed no specifc plans, and it was a good thing too cause John was sick in bed for a few days. But it was nice to see the Wards. My mother-in-laws bird died as we were there. And since Isaac loves their birds so much, got to pick out her next bird and got to name it. Its name was Pokey, since it poked Grandma as she tried to put it in its cage. We just kinda hung out with the family which was nice. We spent actual Christmas morning with John's parents and it was nice, and quiet. Since it was just grammie, and us. (Papa had to work) We left on Sunday. This was the worst idea we had. It was the Sunday after Christmas and EVERYONE, and their mother, brother, sister, neighbor ALSO decided to come home that day. We were sitting in LA like traffic in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE!! People were running out of gas, flipping cars (road were dry just fyi!) Gas stations charging $4.53 for a GALLON of GAS!! It was a NIGHTMARE!! A 12 hour drive tooks us 16 hrs. And Noah does NOT travel well. He was done long before we ever were. And that just makes the drive even longer.

Most of the Ward grandkids

Isaac being silly, with the bleeding, dieing tree behind him

Noah liked Isaacs box better

The youngest grandbaby

He is like 7 months old, his mom insists he can walk.

Noah climbed up on this chair all by himself, and was so proud. So was I to be honest. He has such bad balance, and vision, that him sitting here without falling was a huge accomplishment.

Then he got MAD when Alley want to stand next to him for a picture. I think he thought that she was going to make him get down. LOL

When we returned we didn't have much time to rest. Cause we were having a New Years Ever party. It was an 80's themed Rock party with Band Hero and the Wii and DDR on the Xbox. It was great!! We had a blast rocking it out until 3am. (What do we think we are high schoolers again. We paid for that the next day. OUCH!!)

The guy who thinks he is cool, but is stuck with the 70's wardrobe LOL

My Rock outfit!!

John bought these wigs, Isaac loved them. He was so happy to put them on.

By Monday Jan 4th life had turn back to some what normal. We knew John was leaving but we didn't know when, so we were carrying on. Then at lunch John came home with the news that they were leaving on THURSDAY!! Like in 3 days Thusday. I was floored. Annoying, and scared. But looking back on it, it ended up for the better. There was so much to cram into those 3 days that there was hardly anytime to wallow in the sadness of him leaving. I didn't think much about it until he came home. So we decided to drive to Cheesecake factory for our last date for awhile out in Camarillo. It was nice, a time just for us. We also stopped by the Build a Bear workshop and made a stuff dog for Isaac. It is a batdog, with a recording of John's voice in one hand that Isaac can and does squeeze over and over. And before we knew it, it was Thursday morning dark and early ( it was before the sun was up) and we were saying good-bye.

The batdog

Telling him if he hugged it he hugged daddy

The wait to say good-bye

One more hug!!

My boys

My family!!

My sister sent me these roses, teddy bear and chocolate to cheer me up. They are beautiful, snuggly, and YUMMY!!

But the next 8 months hopefully go by really quickly. The boys already keep me busy, and I have lots of little projects and things to do to keep me sane. Not to mention the fact that I was just called as the RS 2nd Counselor. Thats the counselor over Enrichment, or newly called "Monthly Mtg". I don't really think about the fact that John is gone until the kids go to bed.